Clashing Steel
by Shaman-King-Fan
Summary: Umm... yeah random thing I wrote... WARNING!: Overly excessive violence and some swearing.


Yay for boredom! While I'm writing that GS fanfic I started, I came up with another idea. A tournament of my 12 favorite RPG characters that use swords. I hope this turns out as good as I think it will. I used dice to determine who would win, so yeah...

WARNING: Overly excessive violence and some swearing.

Characters from the following games/movies were used: Chrono Trigger, Final Fantasy 4, Final Fantasy 6, Final Fantasy 7, Final Fantasy 7: Advent Children, Final Fantasy 8, Breath of Fire 2,and The Legend of Zelda. None of them belong to my in any way shape or form.

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Swordsmen have been around for as long as most people can remember. Those individuals who devote their life to the art of swordplay, who live and die by the sword. Fearsome warriors in their own right. To see two highly skilled swordsmen cross blades is truly a sight worth seeing. Once every 500 years however, the greatest, most skilled swordsmen from across time come together to do one thing. Fight for the title of all time greatest swordsman. Now, the field has been narrowed down to twelve fighters...

The twelve chosen fighters stood in a row in front of a table. On the table, a box was placed, and an elderly man sat behind it.

"Now, you all know why you are here." he began. "To fight for the title of greatest swordsman. But before we begin, there are some rules that need to be established. First off, you are not to interfere in any fights proceeding at any given moment. Second, you cannot leave the boundaries of the arena you are fighting in. Every arena will be different, and will be chosen randomly. You win a fight if your opponent gives up, leaves the arena, or is killed. That is all you need to know fight now. In order to determine who will fight whom, you were all assigned numbers from one to six, and split into two groups. Group A, and group B. You were then paired up with someone from opposite pools. They will be your first opponents. If you will now look at the board behind me, you will see who you are fighting."

As if on cue, a large white board appeared behind the man, which had the names of the contestants on it. From top to bottom, it read like this:

Chrono vs. Link

Cloud vs. Ryu

Kadaj vs. Cyan

Squall vs. Cecil

Glenn vs. Seifer

Sephiroth vs. Edge

"Chrono and Link, your fight starts now." The man said, clapping his hands.

---

Instantly, the room was transformed. They were now in a large forest. It was thick with trees, and you could easily walk along the branches as if it were solid ground.

"Your boundaries are the forest. Leave the forest and you loose. Now, begin!"

The moment the man said "begin", the two combatants were off. Chrono, quickly drawing his katana, leapt up and slashed hard towards Link's head. Link caught the blow on his shield, flipping back, catching Chrono's chin with his foot. The redhead stumbled, just barely blocking the strike from Link's double-edged sword, the legendary Master sword. Pushing Chrono back, the Halian struck hard. His blade was a blur as he stabbed high, low, and center, searching for an opening in his opponent's defense. Chrono wasn't going to allow that to happen however.

Blocking one of the attacks, Chrono broke away. Then, using his speed, Chrono quickly went up one of the trees, up high enough so that even Link's sharp eyes wouldn't be able to see him. Link, taking the bait, followed the redhead up. He was then attacked again by Chrono, who had jumped down, katana pulled back, ready to unleash a powerful attack. Link managed to get into good defensive position, and waited for the right moment. Just as the time was right, Link pushed himself off the trunk of the tree he was on. Chrono passed by Link, just barley missing his foot with his attack.

Link performed a partial flip in midair, so that he was perpendicular to the ground again. Then, with Chrono directly below him, he positioned his blade so it looked like he was sitting on it, so that the point was directly at his opponent's back. Then, using one hand to pull free his hookshot, he shot it at the ground. It stuck in the ground, and the Halian triggered the recoil button. The hookshot snapped him faster towards his opponent, his sword finding Chrono's shoulder, driving it through flesh and bone, exiting out the other side. Link let go of the blade, flipping again, so that he could grab Chrono by the waist. Flipping one last time, Link landed firmly on a branch, placing the red-haired swordsman on it, and holding his opponent's katana close to his throat.

"Round one winner is Link!" The man said beside them, appearing out of nowhere.

---

The next fight began an hour after the first one finished. When the two combatants entered the room, they found themselves in the desert. It was in the middle of a sandstorm, and there was barely any visibility.

"Next fight, Cloud vs. Ryu. Begin when you are ready."

Cloud had lost sight of his opponent in the storm. His many sword, broken up into sections, all of which acted as an individual sword, stayed where they were, strapped on his back, all in easy reach of his hands. He circled slowly, looking for a sign of movement. He almost saw it too late, as Ryu came bounding out of the storm, his long sword slashing at his side. Cloud jumped back, removing the main section of his sword from it's holding place. Ryu ran at Cloud, and attacked again, but this time Cloud was ready for him.

Blocking the attack with his sword, Cloud used his strength to get in close to his blue-haired opponent. Then, releasing another of his swords, he brought it around, and hit Ryu in the head with the flat of the blade, sending the smaller man flying. Before Ryu could recover fully, Cloud was on his opponent, a blade in each hand, hacking and slashing hard. Most of the attacks missed their mark due to the storm, but the ones that were on target were barely blocked by Ryu, who barely held his ground. Cloud broke his attack off for one moment, in which Ryu tried one last desperation attack. Crouching low, he sprang at his opponent, his sword coming around at his opponent's throat in a slashing ark.

The sword cut nothing but air. Cloud had ducked underneath, both arms held outstretched. When Ryu was directly over Cloud, he brought the sword in his right hand arcing around towards his opponent's stomach. It entered into his stomach, ripping through the blue-haired man, and exiting the other side. Ryu was dead before he hit the ground. Cloud stood, one blade dripping with blood, as the storm suddenly stopped.

"Round two winner, Cloud!"

---

The next time someone entered the room, it was a rooftop, in the middle of winter. Snow was piled up randomly all around it, except in the center, where it had been cleared out. The two swordsmen stood in that cleared out area, waiting for the go ahead.

"Next fight, Kadaj vs. Cyan. Begin!"

Kadaj had barely even waited for the man to say begin before attacking. His duel bladed katana flashed out of it's sheath, and he struck at Cyan, who blocked it with his own weapon. After a few moments, the two disengaged, and then circled each other. Spinning, Kadaj slashed at his opponent, scoring a small hit on Cyan's leg. Cyan came back with a slash across Kadaj's cheek. Kadaj then kicked Cyan, sending him flying into a snow bank.

When Cyan stood again, Kadaj was right on top of him. The silver-haired man used his speed to push the older man back. Soon, he forced Cyan to make a mistake. Trying to hit Kadaj by slashing downwards, he had his sword caught between the two blades on Kadaj's weapon. With a small flick of his wrist, Kadaj sent the sword flying off the rooftop. He then kicked the now unarmed man, sending him flying again, only this time, Cyan flew off the roof.

"Round three winner, Kadaj!"

---

The fights had ended for the day, and the combatants were all in their rooms, each doing their own thing. Unknown to the others, Kadaj, Seifer, and Sephiroth had met, planning on a way to kill the others.

"Let's just kill them tonight." Seifer said.

"No, it would be too obvious. We have to wait. Wait until we face them, then we can kill them." Kadaj came back.

"Well what's the point in that? If we fight them one on one, there is the chance we will lose."

"Come on, who could possibly beat us?"

"Well, lets see, who's left? Cloud could probably kick the crap out of all of us."

"I could take him right now."

"Enough!" Sephiroth cut in. "We shall kill the ones that we deem a threat now, and take the rest out later. Then we kill that old man."

"The only ones that are threats really are Cloud and Squall. They're the strongest." Seifer said.

"Then we kill them. Tonight." Sephiroth said.

Edge had been out walking, as he couldn't sleep that well. He passed by the room, and heard the last sentence spoken.

_"Then we kill them. Tonight."_

Flattening against the wall, Edge drew both his katanas. He stared at the door, waiting for someone to come out. Soon, the knob on the door began to turn, and Kadaj stepped out. Edge and Kadaj made eye contact for the briefest of moments. Then, the silver-haired swordsman had drawn his sword, and charged at Edge. The ninja dodged to the left, just as the sword hit the wall where his head had been before. He turned to see the blade of Seifer's gun blade swinging at him. Blocking it with the sword in his right hand, he backed away, Kadaj and Seifer in front of him, a wall behind him.

"How much did you hear?" Kadaj demanded.

"Enough." Edge replied.

Kadaj wasn't waiting for Edge to attack. He dived at Edge, stabbing out with his sword, hoping to hit a fatal blow. Edge blocked the attack, and jumped over Kadaj, only to find Seifer behind him, slashing with his gun blade. Blocking the gun blade with his sword, he used his other sword to block Kadaj's, which had been going for his chest. Occupied as he was with the other two, Edge wasn't able to block the sword of the third man, who had come out of the room. Sephiroth didn't waste any time. He stabbed Edge through the heart, killing him instantly.

"We shall move our plans up a bit." he said after pulling the sword from the man's body. "Everyone must die. Tonight."

---

The old man had watched the entire thing happen through a small window that had appeared in front of him when the fight broke out. He studied the three figures intently, his eyes moving from one face to the other.

"Interesting. Very interesting." he said to himself.

Behind the man, stood Glenn, a swordsman from the middle ages. At one time a frog, his curse was lifted when he defeated his mortal enemy. He now walked up to the man.

"What is so interesting, Balthasar?" he said.

Balthasar smiled at the mention of his name. Turning to look at his old friend, he sighed.

"It would appear that some of our contestants decided to eliminate the competition."

"Then we must warn the others. I will distract those three while you do that." With that, Glenn ran towards the hall where the three men were.

Glenn was no sooner in the hallway than the other three appeared from around the corner. Drawing his sword, an earlier version of the legendary blade Masamune, he took up and "en garde" position.

"You will not go any further."

Kadaj stepped out to meet the challenge, but Sephiroth placed a hand on his shoulder.

"I will handle this one." He turned to Glenn. "I see you wield the Masamune. Well I too, wield such a sword. I was hoping to meet you in battle one day, to see who is the better swordsman."

Sephiroth drew his own sword, a later version of the Masamune, which had been changed from it's original long sword shape into that of a long katana. Standing so that Glenn was just out of reach of his blade, he held the blade low in one hand. Glenn moved in quickly, feinting high, then going low. Sephiroth blocked the strike, sending sparks flying from the two blades. But he didn't attack. Instead he let Glenn attack him. Glenn struck again and again, his blade flashing first high, then low, and high again, but still didn't land a hit on Sephiroth. And still Sephiroth didn't strike back.

Glenn broke away for a brief moment, trying to catch his breath. That was when Sephiroth went on the offensive. It was the work of a moment. The silver haired warrior's blade flashed in the dim light of the hall, as it went for Glenn's head. The other man got his blade up to a position where he could block the attack. The blades struck one last time. Sephiroth's Masamune, which was more powerful than Glenn's, sheared the blade at the hilt. Glenn stared at the broken sword for a moment before looking back at Sephiroth. Sephiroth's blade glinted one last time, as it swept through the air, slashing Glenn in the throat. Glenn fell to his knees, still barely holding onto life, as the sword was driven into his chest. Then, his world went blank.

"That was barely even worth it." Seifer said, more to himself than to anyone else.

---

Balthasar hurried down the hallway, towards Cloud's, Squall's, and Link's respective rooms. They were already outside, fully dressed, ready for combat. They paid no attention to the old man, as they hurried towards the adjoining hallway.

"Might as well give them a better place to fight." Balthasar said to himself, clapping his hands.

Starting from where the old man was standing, the area began to change. It was an attempt to fit the strengths of all the fighters. There were sections of city for Cloud, who was used to fighting in the urban areas of large cities, and forest for Link, who spent most of his life in the forest, which made it easier for him to fight. Squall of course was trained to be able to fight in all terrain, so it made little difference to him where he fought.

This of course gave them easier access to the three they were heading for. Kadaj, Sephiroth, and Seifer stood in a row, their respective weapons drawn, as did Cloud, Squall and Link.

"And then there was six." Said a voice out of nowhere, as Balthasar appeared behind the three good guys. "Let us make this interesting. Three on three combat. No rules. The only way to win is by killing all your opponents. The winning team will be granted anything they please."

"Sounds good to me." Cloud said.

"Me too." Replied Sephiroth.

"Then let the final fight begin!"

---

As soon as Balthasar told them to begin, it started raining. Thunder could be heard in the distance, and the odd flash of lightning could be seen. Above the pounding rain and thunder, the clang of metal could be heard.

Squall spun his gun blade, slashing hard towards his opponent's head. It was blocked by the gun blade of Seifer, who pushed away from Squall, then struck hard and low. Blocking the attack, Squall backed off a few steps, and lunged at Seifer again. This time they locked blades, and Squall found himself face to face with his greatest rival.

"I will beat you this time." Seifer sneered.

"Not if I can help it." Squall said, pushing Seifer away.

Cloud fought hard with Sephiroth, all the sections of his sword connected into a larger one. The blades of both Cloud and Sephiroth were blurs as they along a street way, which had trees growing at random intervals along the path. The blonde warrior had climbed up one of these trees, while still fending off the blade of Sephiroth. The two blades cut branches off of the tree, raining them on the head of Sephiroth. Finally Sephiroth gave up, and sliced through the tree.

Cloud had been near the top of the tree when Sephiroth had cut through it. Sheathing his sword, Cloud stood as high as he could. As the tree started to fall towards one of the buildings, he ran along the trunk of the tree, and vaulted off one of the higher branches. He grabbed a pole that was sticking off the building, spinning around it once, before stopping, and landing with his feet firmly on the pole. He just barely managed to draw his sword again before Sephiroth was right on top of him, his katana flashing towards his neck. Cloud blocked the attack, and kicked Sephiroth's exposed stomach, causing him to lose his balance and fall off the pole. Cloud dived after him, ready to strike.

Kadaj had Link right where he wanted him. Using his speed, the silver haired man had caused Link to drop his shield, which put them on even ground. Kadaj's double bladed katana struck many small hits on Link, each one causing the Halian to lose more and more blood. Soon, Link began to slow down, his strikes became weaker, as if he had lost his will to fight. Kadaj pushed his opponent back, until he had forced him against a tree. After one last half-hearted attempt to attack, Kadaj disarmed Link, flipping the Master sword up and over, catching it with his free hand.

Link stared straight into the eyes of the man that was about to kill him. Using what little strength he had left, Link stood upright, holding his arms outwards, giving Kadaj a clear shot at him. Kadaj needed no second bidding. The double bladed katana of Kadaj entered into the chest of Link, causing the Halian to cough blood. Then his eyes began to cloud over, and he fell to the ground as Kadaj removed the sword from his body.

---

Squall and Seifer were evenly matched. Both combatants gained as much ground as they gained. Both were cut and burned in multiple areas, as they had begun to use the triggers on the gun blades. There seemed to be no end in sight of the battle. That is until Kadaj joined in the fight. Having defeated his opponent, he had gone to assist with Seifer, so that they would be able to fight the strongest of the three, Cloud, three on one, assuring their chance of winning. And he couldn't have picked a worse time to join.

Squall and Seifer once again had their blades locked together. Both were pushing hard, neither one willing to give in. Then Kadaj swept in, double bladed katana in one hand, the Master sword on the other, and stabbed Squall in the shoulders. This caused him to lose his concentration, which allowed Seifer to score a shallow slash across his stomach. Backing away from both of his opponents, Squall leveled his gun blade, one opponent on each side, and lunged at Seifer, slashing hard at him.

Cloud found himself up another tree, only this time, he was the one doing the chasing. Sephiroth stood on top of the tree, slashing off branches, causing them to fall on Cloud. Cloud had sheathed his sword again, one section of the sword detached to slice through the falling branches to minimize damage. Once he reached to within the range of Sephiroth's sword, the silver haired ex-SOLDIER slashed hard towards Cloud's head. Blocking the strike, Cloud flipped and landed on the sword.

Drawing his sword and re-attaching the blade he had removed, he ran along the length of the blade, kicking Sephiroth hard in the face. Then, jumping off the blade, he landed on another branch of the tree. Sephiroth had barely been bothered by the kick, and was hacking at the tree again before Cloud even set foot on the branch. Cutting through a few of the branches, he looked to find Sephiroth diving towards him, and blocked the strike aimed at his head. Unfortunately, he didn't have a good grip on his sword, and it flew out of his hand, sticking into the wall of a building some 15 meters away. Before Sephiroth could capitalize on the opportunity, Cloud had jumped off the branch, grabbing it with both hands. He spun around the branch, coming from behind, and landing a hard double-footed kick to his back, sending him sprawling to the ground once again.

Squall was losing energy fast. Fending off his two opponents, he was using up twice as much energy than he would normally. If you took into account that Kadaj was using two swords, then the odds of Squall winning were not good. Kadaj and Seifer had Squall trapped between them, slowly wearing him down by systematically attacking him. First Seifer would attack low and hard, then Kadaj would attack high. Squall would block the first attack, only to be hit from behind by the second attack. Soon there was blood spilling from almost every part of Squall's body, and he was fading fast.

There was one last thing that Squall was willing to try. After getting away from his two opponents, he ran along a street, and climbed up one of the trees. At the rate he was losing blood, he guessed he only had one shot at what he was going to try. His two assailants came as expected. Just as they were about to start cutting the tree down, Squall dropped out of the tree, his gun blade pulled back, ready to attack. However, just as he was about to land a strike that would have taken Seifer's head off, He was kicked hard in the stomach by Kadaj.

There was a brief moment where Squall was fully upright in midair. During that small moment, Kadaj flipped the Master sword around, and threw it. The sword went spiraling towards Squall's exposed stomach, and tore through it, exiting the other side, and pinning Squall to the tree behind him. It was but the work of a moment for Kadaj to finish him off, retrieving the Master sword, as Squall's lifeless body slid to the ground.

---

Cloud soon found himself outnumbered and outmatched. Three on one, without a sword, against some of the most powerful swordsmen in history. Behind him to the left stood Seifer, and to the right Kadaj, still wielding two swords. In front of him was Sephiroth, who Cloud could barely beat fighting one on one.

_I have to get to my sword, but how? _he thought to himself.

Cloud stood completely still, ready for any attack that came from any direction. He didn't have to wait long. Seifer charged him first, his blade coming in low, and rising up in an upwards slash. Skipping back, Cloud then jumped over Kadaj's strike, kicking him in the face, then ducking under Seifer's second slash. Sephiroth stood outside of the fight, ready to jump in if needed. Kadaj and Seifer, for two who didn't know each other very well, worked together effectively, always keeping their opponent on the move. When one attacked, the other would be right behind them, ready to attack. Cloud effectively dodged the blades, trying to get to his sword, but Sephiroth placed him between the fight and the sword.

Finally Cloud found a break. Getting in close to Seifer, he kicked him hard, sending him sprawling against a building. Then, ducking under Kadaj's attack, he kicked him in his weak hand, which caused the Master sword to fly up into the air. As the blade was coming down, Cloud spun on his heel, and judging it perfectly, struck the blade at the handle, causing it to spin in another direction... directly at Seifer, who had just stood up. The blade spun violently towards him, directly at neck level.

"Oh shit." Seifer muttered to himself.

Before Seifer could even lift his gun blade, the sword sliced through his neck, into his throat, and out the other side, slamming point first into the wall behind him. After a brief moment, Seifer's head fell to the ground, followed by his body. The gun blade slipped from his lifeless hand, sticking into the ground.

Before Cloud could even recover fully after the attack, Kadaj was striking him left, right and center with a renewed energy. He opened many small cuts along Cloud arms as he backed off, unable to defend himself properly, being unarmed. Then, the ground started shaking, and the landscape began to change.

Balthasar, realizing that at this rate Cloud would lose, was changing the setting of the fight. By doing this, all objects not belonging to that particular setting was returned to it's owner, which would give Cloud his only chance back. The buildings and trees began to disappear, and were replaced by that of a large statue, surrounded by a large pool of water. There was a strong wind from the north, and boats at random intervals around the statue island. When the change was complete, the old man seemed to look older.

"I hope he can win now..." he said quietly to himself.

Cloud was confused while the change was taking place. The only thing he noticed was that it was really windy, and there was a familiar weight on his back. Reaching back, he felt the hilt of his sword. A slight smile went across his face for a moment before pulling it out. He then realized the ground didn't seem to be overly stable. Looking down, he found himself standing on a large flat boat. Spinning on his heel suddenly, he barely caught the blow on his sword from Kadaj.

"Now, let's finish this." said Sephiroth from behind him, landing lightly on the boat.

Detaching one of the sections of the sword, he caught the slash from Sephiroth on it, while fending off Kadaj from the other side. Blocking attack after attack, Cloud found himself being directed towards the edge of the boat. It took him a moment to figure out a plan, and another moment after that to get into position to be able to do it.

When Cloud reached the edge of the boat, he jumped off it, flipping in midair and landing on another boat. Then, running the blade along the floor of that boat, he jumped to another one. He did this to every boat he landed on, until he was on the island where the statue stood. Kadaj and Sephiroth were right on his tail, having a slightly harder time getting there due to the boats collapsing when they landed on them. Re-combining the swords together, Cloud stood at the base of the statue, Slowly making his way up the statue, which was very old, and had many ridges in it, which were bid enough for Cloud to stand on with room to spare.

Sephiroth was the first one to make it to the statue. He rapidly ascended the statue, hacking at Cloud with his sword. Dodging most of the attacks, Cloud continued to climb the statue, looking to get to one spot: the top. Kadaj climbed up from the other side, faster than both Cloud and Sephiroth, as he wasn't fighting. He kept climbing until he was about halfway up, then climbed around so he was on the side where the other two were fighting. Cloud now had nowhere to go. Sephiroth blocked his way down, and Kadaj was above him. The only other option for him was to make a final stand right then and there.

---

Holding onto the statue with one hand, Cloud kicked off from the statue, spinning his sword until it hit the statue, embedding itself into it. Letting go of the statue, he grabbed the handle of it, and flipped up, narrowly dodging the blade of Sephiroth. He then landed a kick on Kadaj, who had tried to knock Cloud off by letting go and allowing the gravity to pull him down onto his opponent. Landing firmly on the blade, Cloud removed two sections of the sword, holding one in each hand. Both Kadaj and Sephiroth were now level with Cloud. blocking and ducking under the two blades of his opponent's, Cloud looked for a way to finish the fight before he got too tired. But no opportunities were showing themselves. If it was a one on one battle, then Cloud would have found something, but as it was, there was little chance he would find something.

Then, more by luck than skill, an opportunity made itself possible. In one of his blocks, Cloud hit Kadaj's hand that was holding the statue. Out of reaction, Kadaj let go of the statue, realizing too late that he had probably made a fatal mistake. Kadaj fell from the statue, but managed to get his sword into a crevice near the bottom, but the other two didn't know that. In there view, it was now one on one.

Cloud fought desperately against Sephiroth. Already one of his swords had been knocked out of his hand, and the other one was looking to be in really bad shape. After a few more hits, the blade snapped clean off, leaving Cloud holding a useless scrap of metal, which he threw away.

"It's over Cloud. You lose." Sephiroth said, raising his sword.

"Not yet." Cloud replied.

Sephiroth then brought the sword down hard towards Cloud's head. It looked as if the strike would hit, but then, at the last second, Cloud caught the blade in his hand. The keen edge of Sephiroth's blade cut deep into his hand, but he held on. Sephiroth pushed on his blade, cutting deeper into Cloud's hand, until it was spurting blood everywhere.

"You're delaying your death." Sephiroth said.

"I'm not the one about to die." Cloud said softly.

---

Still holding onto the blade of Sephiroth's sword, Cloud backed up so that his feet were on the hilt of his sword. Then, he slid his feet off of it, wrapping them around the handle of his sword, and pulled it out of the statue. Flipping it up, he caught it with his free hand. Spinning the blade, he stabbed it into Sephiroth's stomach with such force that it stuck into the statue again. Letting go of Sephiroth's blade, he stood once again on the hilt of his sword. Blood trickled from his hand, as well as numerous cuts on his body, and pooled onto his sword.

Looking at Sephiroth, who was barely holding onto life, he spoke to his old rival.

"It's over. You lose." he said.

Sephiroth smiled. "Not yet." And using the last bit of his strength, stabbed Cloud through the stomach, before his body went limp, his eyes staring into nothing.

Cloud removed Sephiroth's sword from his stomach, and did the same with his. He then began to slowly and painfully descend the statue, every inch taking more and more life from his body. By the time he made it to the bottom, he had lost most of his blood, and he felt extremely dizzy. Collapsing on his knees, he stared across the water, looking for a sign of the old man that got him into this mess in the first place. Then a shadow descended on him. Clutching his stomach in one hand, he looked up into the face of Kadaj, who he thought he had killed.

"Well, this should be easy." Kadaj said as he raised his double bladed katana.

Cloud wasn't about to die. Using a small reserve of strength, Cloud lifted his sword, and blocked the attack. Then, Kadaj tried another attack. Again Cloud blocked it. Every time Kadaj tried to attack, Cloud would block it, each time a little bit faster. Finally, on the fourth time, Cloud hit Kadaj's sword so hard, that it flew out of his hand, broken into many small pieces. Spinning the blade over his head, Cloud stabbed Kadaj in the chest, finally killing his last opponent.

As soon as Kadaj had been killed, the statue and water disappeared. Cloud leaned against the wall, coughing up blood, at the doorway of death. Balthasar hurried over to him, looking him over. After a moment, he walked away, then came back holding a large pail of what seemed to be water. The old man forced him to drink some of it, then poured some over the wound in his stomach. The wound instantly began to heal. After a few moments, Cloud began to regain his senses, being able to look clearly into the face of the old man. Smiling to Balthasar, he finally lost consciousness, and fell asleep.

---

Cloud woke up in a strange room about a week later. His wounds had completely healed, leaving only scars. Looking out the window, he realized he was back home, in his own time. Everything looked exactly like it was when he had left a week ago. Turning around, he noticed one difference in his room.

There lying on the counter was the swords of all the other fighters that had competed in the final fight, in which he was the only one that survived. The swords that had been broken had been perfectly mended, and they were all sheathed. It was then he decided to do something.

Cloud stared out into the valley. For how long he stood like that, he didn't know. All he knew was that it had been daytime when he got there, and it was now night. Turning back, he went to his motorcycle, and got on it. He looked back for a moment, before he left.

Standing in the center of the valley were the swords of the six combatants, placed in a circle, the hilts connected. And in the center, pointing straight up to the sky was Cloud's sword, and on top of that a sign which read:

_For the lost hopes and broken dreams._

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Wow... I Actually finished a story. Well, tell me what you think of it! Review!

Till next time.

15


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